NEW MILFORD >> A new exhibit, “Art of the Animal,” which opens June 27 and continues through Aug. 2 at the Gregory James Gallery in the Park Lane section of New Milford, features works by ten established artists who live and work in and around Litchfield County and nearby New York State. Through a variety of mediums, including oil paint, watercolor, sculpture and furniture making, they bring to life the animals that inhabit the landscape surrounding them, from field to farm and forest.

The exhibit features works by Bill Rice of Warren, Scott Zuckerman of Cornwall Bridge, Tommy Simpson of New Preston, Thomas Adkins of Southbury, John Swatsley, formerly of Harwinton, Sheila Tintera, formerly of New Milford, Christopher Magadini of Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., Meg Lindsay of Irvington, NY, Clayton Buchanan of Newburgh, NY, and James Coe of Hannacroix, N.Y.

About the artists

Scott Zuckerman, who holds a BFA from the Pratt Institute and studied at the Art Students League, is an avid sportsman who paints indigenous wildlife he encounters every day, from rabbits, foxes and frogs to moose, fish and birds. The concepts for his paintings, which mix watercolor and oil, come from the countless hours he has spent outdoors, fishing, hunting and simply observing, near his home in the Northwest Corner.

“There is a rhythm in nature: the way branches grow, the patterns of grasses, the cryptic markings of birds and animals,” Zuckerman says.

Hiss work has been featured in exhibitions across the country, as well as on the cover of “Downeast Magazine” and the “Maine Sportsman,” and on the cover of “The Angler’s Life,” by Lawrence Sheehan. His paintings are held in the permanent collections of the New York Public Library, Kidder and Peabody in New York and L.L. Bean in Freeport, Maine.

Bill Rice, a professional sculptor for nearly 20 years, similarly derives inspiration for his work by observing the habits and attitudes of birds, and by keeping an aviary at his home in Warren. Highly regarded for his finely crafted bird and feather sculpture, Rice has become respected for his small still-life and landscape paintings, some of which feature local scenes such as the Housatonic River in winter, a red barn in Cornwall, or the stony outcropping of Kent Falls. His carvings of kestrels, woodcocks, pheasants and sanderlings incorporate aspects of each bird’s natural habitat, as well as their personality.

Rice’s work has been featured in the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History’s Birds in Art Show and the Easton Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland, and is represented in private and corporate collections throughout the United States, in Canada, China, England, Bermuda and South Africa.

Landscape painter and wildlife artists James Coe recalls that growing up in the suburbs of New York City, he was fascinated early on by the egrets and shorebirds he noticed in nearby salt marshes and learned to identify them. After graduating from Harvard with a degree in biology, he attended Parson’s School of Design in New York as a graduate student and launched a career in field guide illustration. He is best known as the author and illustrator of the “Golden Field Guide Eastern Birds,” first published in 1994.

After working for 15 years as an illustrator, Coe began painting landscapes en plein air, turning his focus to the hills, streams and farms of the Hudson Valley. In his most recent work, he integrates birds into his landscapes: a snowy egret wading into a sunny pool of water and light, a trio of plovers alight over a salt marsh, a green heron perched nobly on a branch, sheltered by tall grasses.

“Jim’s goal is to introduce an element of movement, color, or interest to the landscape. He hopes to evoke the poetic quality of birdwatching: that magical moment when bird, environment, and atmosphere merge into one memorable image,” his website says.

Tommy Simpson is an artist, woodworker, sculptor, furniture maker, painter and poet, a true original in the art world. Internationally recognized, he works in nearly every medium. “The ultimate goal,” Simpson says, “is to bring the artwork to life, so that the viewer can identify the human spirit behind the work, and experience its poetry.”

Simpson’s work has been featured in exhibitions across the country and is held in the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.D., the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, and the Museum of Arts & Design in New York, among others.

Contemporary artist Meg Lindsay’s paintings are affected by her love of poetry and animals. “As a colorist, I paint the light through relationships of color,” Lindsay says. “My landscapes are built from a tawny field, rows of stubby stalks that melt off into shadows, endless cloud puffs, and sometimes the illusory bulk of a motionless owl or a sheep munching straw, its knees a knobby call for scratches in ink.”

Lindsay holds an M.F.A. in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College and studied at the National Academy of Design, Vermont Studio Center and Santa Fe Institute. She has participated in juried shows at Hudson River Museum and the Silvermine Arts Center and her work has been featured in 40 exhibits in 11 states.

Clayton Buchanan, who works in pastel, says “I paint those moments when light gives birth to the poetry of color.” Those moments capture the interplay of light and color as a red and white calf and its mother graze quietly on a hillside, or a white swan appears to nod regally to a lowly turtle skimming by on the surface of a green pond.

Buchanan studied Impressionist painting with Henry Hensche in Provincetown, Mass., figure and portrait painting with William Draper at the Arts Students League in New York and painting and graphic arts at the Memphis Academy of Art. He worked in graphic arts for 30 years and now paints full time. His paintings have been exhibited in galleries throughout the Northeast. His works are in private and corporate collections including the First National Bank of Boston, London England.

Contemporary realist and Connecticut native Thomas Adkins is known for his paintings of the farms and untouched landscapes of Litchfield County. In one of his recent paintings, titled “Receding Snow Bethlehem,” a red and white cow appears in the foreground, as if it had just stepped into the frame to get a closer look at the plein air painter.

“Every good landscape painting should have a sense of what the artist is feeling to a particular location,” Adkins says. “Every day and every hour there is a different reaction nature has on our senses.”

A graduate of Paier College of Art of New Haven, Adkins’ work is featured in private collections throughout the United States and abroad. His paintings have been shown in galleries and exhibitions in Connecticut and New England. In 2014, he was one of 83 award-winning artists from seven countries selected to participate in the 35th Annual International Marine Art Exhibition at Mystic Seaport.

A native of Great Barrington, Mass., Christopher Magadini has become known as a master plein art painter in recent years and his work has been exhibited worldwide. His style could be called Contemporary Impressionism, although the pastoral quality of his work recalls the naturalism of 19th century American landscape painting.

Magadini graduated from The Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and began his career in commercial illustration in Stockholm, Sweden. He taught art at Northern Arizona State University before returning east to earn his M.F.A. at Syracuse University. Magadini has taught at Marymount College in Tarrytown, NY, and has been a guest lecturer at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. His credits include covers for “Reader’s Digest” magazine, illustrations for Reader’s Digest Books, “Guideposts,” “Field & Stream,” “Audubon,” “Women’s Day, “ and Scholastic Books. He has designed stamps for the United Nations and the current American Heritage Series Collectors Plates for Royal Copenhagen USA.

John Swatsley moved from magazine art direction to a career in freelance illustration, specializing in wildlife and historical subjects. He now devotes his time exclusively to painting, drawing inspiration from extensive trips to Italy, France, Spain and Africa to create oil paintings of wildlife. Subjects range from a pair of white horses captured here in the U.S. to others found farther afield: a pair of lions resting in the shade, or a horned buffalo perched on a hillside under a full moon.

Swatsley completed his formal art training at the Art Center College of Design. His work has been featured in exhibitions at the Bennington Center for the Arts in Vermont and the National Park Academy for the Arts in Jackson, Wyoming, among other U.S. galleries, and in the Wildlife Art Auction for Christies, London.

A native of Katonah, NY, Sheila Tintera studied painting and printmaking at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, the Silvermine School of Art and Southern Connecticut State University. She now lives in Jackson, Wyoming and the exhibit will feature several paintings inspired by her exploration of cave paintings.

An award-winning artist, Tintera has exhibited her work in numerous solo and group shows and galleries throughout New England. Her work demonstrates expressive brushwork and color emphasis, and is influenced by mid-20th century American painters.

“I’ve been examining the way the land lies in my corner of the world for a long time,” Tintera says. “As I paint, the work evolves. The landscape becomes a personal vision and expresses the deep passion I have for New England and the east coast and for the past few years, Wyoming.”

“Art of the Animal” will be on view at the Gregory James Gallery from June 27 through August 2. An artists’ reception will be held June 27 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Gregory James Gallery, Fine Art and the Art of Framing, is located at 93 Park Lane Road (Route 202) in New Milford. For more information, please call 860-354-3436 or visit gregoryjamesgallery.com.